Talks resume on Friday – not all are happy

Talks resume on Friday – not all are happy

Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı and Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades will meet on Friday at 10.00 am to launch the resumption of the Cyprus negotiations which were halted in October 2014.

The UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide, will be in Cyprus tomorrow in order to facilitate the talks and will remain in Cyprus till 17th May.

Yesterday, on the Greek Cypriot side, only ruling DISY and main opposition AKEL welcomed the resumption of talks, with a cautious statement from junior coalition partner EVROKO.

Socialist EDEK, DIKO, the Greens and the Citizens Alliance all said they had found no cause to celebrate and that it would all end in tears.

Each of the hard-line parties slammed a reported reference by Turkish Foreign Minister Melvut Cavusoglu to “two states” even after the Cyprus News Agency issued a clarification of his comments early on the day, when it obtained a transcript from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, in which he refers to “two constituent states”.

However the four parties all used the reference to justify their opposition to the resumption of the talks on Friday. The party leaders are due to be briefed by Anastasiades today.

The EDEK leadership, which on Sunday openly rejected a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation as the model for a settlement, continued its tirade with party leader Marinos Sizopoulos saying Cavusoglu’s comment justified the party’s position.

“It sends a strong message that only those who are unaware cannot grasp and cannot understand,” he said, adding that it was strong evidence that Turkey had in mind a confederal solution.

“It is time to realise what Turkey’s strategic goals are, and to come up with a new strategy of our own to prevent this”, he said.